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The US Federal Trade Commission sued the Uber on board the app, saying it made “false or misleading” claims about its subscription service, with the latest indication that Donald Trump’s administration is embracing a positive attitude towards major technology groups.
Regulators alleged that the company’s Uber One service failed to provide promised savings and that it turned out to be difficult to “cancel at any time” as promised, according to a complaint filed in California court on Monday.
“Americans are tired of signing up for unnecessary subscriptions that they think are impossible to cancel,” said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. “Uber not only deceived consumers about subscriptions, but also made it unfairly difficult for customers to cancel.”
The FTC’s actions add to a series of lawsuits brought by successive US administrations against large-scale technology companies. The incident shows the Trump administration will continue to crack down on these groups despite a recent overture conducted by tech executives.
Uber denied the FTC’s claims, saying its sign-up and cancellation process is “clear, simple and follows the letter and spirit of the law.”
Uber and its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi each donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration earlier this year.
Apple CEOs Tim Cook, Amazon, Meta and Google were among the many American companies and executives who contributed.
All four companies face antitrust legal challenges from the FTC and the Department of Justice, some of which have been brought to justice.
Several high-tech executives attended the president’s inauguration, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg meetings with the president at the White House in recent months.
Efforts to gain favour from the White House have not resulted in a softer attitude towards antitrust actions under Ferguson. He informs us that we will maintain the crackdown on the industry, unleashed by his predecessor, Lina Khan.
“The Trump Vance FTC is fighting back on behalf of the Americans,” Ferguson added, referring to US Vice President JD Vance.
The FTC’s lawyer in court said that Uber incorrectly claimed that users would save about $25 a month through the $9.99 service, but did not take into account the cost of subscriptions in that calculation.
They added that it makes it difficult for Uber to cancel services, requiring users to “navigate at least seven screen mazes if they get dozens of different actions and guess the correct path to use.”
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Uber said: “Uber will not sign up or charge consumers without their consent, cancellations can be made through the app anytime, and most people can take them within 20 seconds.”
The FTC under former President Joe Biden’s administration has filed a lawsuit against Amazon over its major subscription services. That case will be heard in Seattle later this year.
The FTC sued Uber during Trump’s first term, with the riding app mishandling personal data and “exaggerated revenue” for future drivers. Uber has settled both lawsuits and paid a $20 million settlement to provide a refund to the affected drivers.
